Conventional office chairs are known in the art. A person may remain seated in an office chair, such as at a desk or at a work station, for many hours at a time. Many approaches have been taken to improve the long term comfort of such chairs. This includes improving the ergonomics of the chair and increasing the padding of the chair. A further approach which has been developed is to provide a motor for providing motion to all or a portion of a chair. For example, Gamba (U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,851) discloses a chair which includes a motor for rocking the seat of a chair. In contrast, Yamasaki et al (U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,925) discloses a chair which has included therein a vibration transmission device which is provided in the seat and the back rest of a chair for providing a massage action.
Massage pads and the like which can be placed on top of existing furniture or cars have also been developed. See for example Foster, Jr. et al (U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,517), Cutler (U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,608 and Yoo (U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,096).
It has also been known to include massage apparatus in lounge chairs for the home and the like. See for example Murphy (U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,204) and Oetinger (U.S. Pat. No. 3,678,923).
Lounge chairs and the like are typically bulky and are typically designed as a stationary piece of furniture. The massage apparatus for these chairs has generally been designed to be plugged directly into an AC outlet. When incorporating such devices into office chairs, it has also been considered to obtain power by using an electrical cord to connect the mechanised apparatus to an external source of power (see Yamasaki et al).
In order to provide a device which will customize the massage action to the requirement of a particular individual, massage devices typically come with a controller which is connected via an electric cord to the massage apparatus (see for example Foster, Jr. et al, Yoo and Cutler). However, when these devices are added to an office chair, the controller may be positioned so as to interfere with the other controls of the chair and, in addition, may interfere with the regular use of the chair.